Sunshine is best remedy

The word "sunshine," when used as a metaphor, always symbolizes something good. Used in all forms of prose, it stands for rejuvenation and often signals the conclusion of difficult times.

As "Sunshine Week" begins today, the word stands for something that is tremendously important and often taken for granted — transparency in the dealings of public officials at all levels of government.

The weeklong designation was established in 2005, in mid-March to coincide with the birthday of James Madison, who once wrote: "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

We write often in these pages about the need for transparency and the importance of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). To some perhaps those missives sound like issues that are important to newspapers but less relevant to the daily lives of ordinary American citizens.

But this is very definitely about you.

Local, state and federal legislators — from the county stormwater commissioner all the way up to the White House — make decisions about how to spend your tax dollars. They determine our laws, from hot button issues governing abortion and immigration, to less exciting but just as important matters that go a long way toward determining quality of life in your hometown — zoning regulations, public school budgets and many more. They answer for police shootings.

These decisions need to be made in a public forum, not behind closed doors. That is one of the fundamental principles on which our nation was founded, part of the basic concept of "no taxation without representation." Representation doesn't just mean that citizens choose the elected officials who will speak for them. It also means that those constituents will have full access to the work that is being done in their name; it does no good to have representation if those elected officials don't have to answer to the people who sent them.

This should be self-evident, and yet there will always be those in positions of power and influence who would rather make their decisions beneath the cloak of secrecy. Those who prefer to work in back rooms with shades drawn rather than with open windows that let the sunshine in.

The Freedom of Information Act, which provides open access to public records, applies to ordinary citizens just as it applies to the press. Anything that is in the public record — particularly as it pertains to the way tax dollars get spent – must be made available to anyone who requests it.

Some dedicated citizens take advantage of this. Most do not. With that in mind, the most important role of the free press is to serve as the proverbial "watchdog" who keeps an eye on our elected officials. This is not a game of "gotcha," as some would suggest, but rather an important part of the system of checks and balances that makes our country work.

Our reporters serve as the eyes and ears of the community. We track the legislature, public schools and transportation, crime and the courts, and countless other beats that in one way or another affect the lives of our readers. We can't do that job, or at least we can't do it adequately, without the guarantee of public records.

The residents of Flint, Mich., can't drink their water because of secret deals that were brokered without public knowledge. Here in Virginia the Peninsula Airport Commission spent a lot of money to bring in an airline that barely got off the ground, and a couple of state economic agencies blindly gave $2.6 million to a Chinese company for a factory in Appomattox that never opened. The press and the people should be informed about how public money is being spent; in the instances where those deals go bad, the need for transparency and accountability is critical.

This is a battle that never ends. Every day, somewhere in America, some elected official or public body will try to block out that sunshine — whether it is a county board of supervisors planning a budget in secret or a national politician threatening to make it easier to sue newspapers for reporting the facts.

It is tempting to say that this struggle is a necessity, that the daily fight for information keeps us from taking it for granted. But that is too easy. There is nothing good or acceptable or justifiable about important information being withheld or hidden from the public. You deserve easy access to accurate and complete information. It is your right, and no public official or organization should infringe on it.

An informed public is an integral part of a healthy democracy. And sunshine is the ultimate enemy of those who would keep you in the dark.